Improvement in railroad-tracks



lL. HALL.

RAILROAD-TRACK. N-o.173,94=4. Pgtentemeb. zz, 197s.

2 2' j. c y i E l,

Y I.' d,

di? M1/M NPETEHS, PHDTOJ-ITHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON D C UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOWELL HALL, 0E GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

- I IMPROVEMENT IN RAlLRCAD-TRACKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. [73,944, dated February 22, 1876; application led December 19, 1873.

To all whom t may concern: y

Be it known that I, LOWELL HALL, of the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, have invented a new .and Improved Mode ot' Laying Down the Hollow or U Rail for railroad purposes,'of

f which the following is a full and sucient specification, reference being had to the accompanying' drawings and letters of reference marked thereon. l

Like letters in the three igures denote the same parts.

The object of my invention is `to obviate the spreadin g of' the track at the joints, the pounding or-abrasion of therails at the joints consequent upon their resting upon iron, whether thecommon chair or fish-plates, nuts, and bolts, the vibration of the rails, which crystallizes and destroys them, and also to save a very large percentage in the cost ot' iron; and the invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, all as hereinafter more fully set forth. l

I obviate the spreading of the track at the joints by means of my chair-bar B in combination with spikes E, as seen in Figures 1 and 2. This chair'bar is made of iron, ot' suitable width Jand thickness, and long enough to reach across the track at the joints, from outside to outside ot' the rails. It is swaged at the ends the width of the bottom of the-rails, and the swaged portion is let into the tie, just its thickness, so that the top of the swaged portion is level withlthe surface of the tie.

(See Fig. 2.) This chair-bar is secured in place by means of spikes E E driven through it into the tie on the inside of the rails. (See right side of Figs. 1 and 2.)

My chair-bar not only obviates the spreading of the track at the joints, but it also dispenses with the common chair crush-plates, nuts, and bolts, and tends greatly to relieve the pounding or abrasion of the rails at the joints by resting their ends o'u the tie A evenly with the chair-bar B.

The constant vibration of rails by passing trains injures, by crystallization, the iiber of the iron, causing it io break easily, in severe frosty weather especially.

. In the hollow or U rail, so called, the `vi bration of the rail through its entire length'is obviated by lling the rail continuously with well-seasoned wood, ,(yellow or Norway p'ine, without sap, preferred,) as indicated at l) in Fig. 2. I make the filling one-sixteenth ot' an inch flush at the bottom, so'that the iron is drawn upon the wood lilling by force ofthe spikes, imprinting the rail into the. wood,.n |ak ing a solid mass ot' wood and iron, rendering vibration impossible. The wood-filling should be ot' equal length with the rail and break joints in the center of it, which, in effect, is better than the continuous rail. This, with the chairbar described, obviates entirely thel pounding or abrasion ot' the rails at the joints.

The hollow rail to be thus filled with wood may be made much lighter than the T-rail,

thus saving a large percentage in the cost ot' y rails, and still securillg a much more durable iron.

Having thus described my invention, what'.

I claim as new, and wish to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with the tie A,`having y LOWELL HALL.

In the presence of- JAMEsB. WILLsoN, EBEN SMITH. 

